Analysis of Enlisted Today
I know the sun shines, and the lilacs are blowing,
And the summer sends kisses by beautiful May -
Oh! to see all the treasures the spring is bestowing,
And think my boy Willie enlisted today.
It seems but a day since at twilight, low humming,
I rocked him to sleep with his cheek upon mine,
While Robby, the four-year old, watched for the coming
Of father, adown the street's indistinct line.
It is many a year since my Harry departed,
To come back no more in the twilight or dawn:
And Robby grew weary of watching, and started
Alone on the journey his father had gone.
It is many a year - and this afternoon sitting
At Robby's old window, I heard the band play,
And suddenly ceased dreaming over my knitting,
To recollect Willie is twenty today.
And that, standing beside him this soft May-day morning,
And the sun making gold of his wreathed cigar smoke,
I saw in his sweet eyes and lips a faint warning,
And choked down the tears when he eagerly spoke:
'Dear mother, you know how these Northmen are crowing,
They would trample the rights of the South in the dust,
The boys are all fire; and they wish I were going -'
He stopped, but his eyes said. 'Oh, say if I must!'
I smiled on the boy, though my heart it seemed breaking,
My eyes filled with tears, so I turned them away,
And answered him, 'Willie, 'tis well you are waking -
Go, act as your father would bid you, today!'
I sit in the window, and see the flags flying,
And drearily list to the roll of the drum,
And smother the pain in my heart that is lying
And bid all the fears in my bosom be dumb.
I shall sit in the window when summer is lying
Out over the fields, and the honey-bee's hum
Lulls the rose at the porch from her tremulous sighing,
And watch for the face of my darling to come.
And if he should fall -his young life he has given
For freedom's sweet sake; and for me, I will pray
Once more with my Harry and Robby in Heaven
To meet the dear boy who enlisted today.
Scheme | ABAB ACAC DEDE ABAB AFAF AGAG ABAB AHAH AHAH IBIB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 11011001110 001011011001 1111010011010 01111001001 11101111110 11111111011 110011111010 1101010011 1110011110010 1111100111 010110110010 01101011011 111001010110 11011011011 010011010110 1011011001 0110011111110 001101111011 110111010110 01101111001 11011111110 111001101001 0111100111010 11111111111 111011111110 11111111101 010110111110 11111011101 110010010110 011101101 010010111110 01101011011 1110010110110 11001001011 1011011010010 01101111011 011111111110 11011011111 111110010010 11011101001 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,907 |
Words | 380 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 37 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 149 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 38 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:54 min read
- 48 Views
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"Enlisted Today" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/3374/enlisted-today>.
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